


Winter Cheer

by Jane_Bishop



Category: 15th Century CE RPF
Genre: Anna is a sweetie, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, I hope this is okay!, I've written Richard like this for years I hope you like it!, a little friendly competition never hurt anyone...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9049729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jane_Bishop/pseuds/Jane_Bishop
Summary: Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and his wife, Anne Neville, are spending the winter season with Francis and Anna Lovell. This is for History Secret Santa, I hope you enjoy!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MichisAccount](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichisAccount/gifts).



> Thank you for making me fall in love with Francis! I hope you enjoy your present. Merry Christmas!

A lone robin flew down and sat near the edge of the small pond outside the manor. It pecked around for some seeds but, upon finding nothing, soon flew away to try its luck elsewhere. Anna smiled, watching it flap its wings. She looked up at the grey sky and sighed. It would be dark soon. Her husband, Francis, would have to return from a hunting trip that his friend, Richard, had proposed. At least there would be a prize to enjoy for supper that evening.

‘It gets dark far too early, wouldn't you say so, Anna?’ asked Anne. She was picking idly at a hedge that circled the pond.

Anna turned to face her friend. She and Anne were cousins and had been friends for almost as long as Richard and Francis had been. ‘Yes,’ she agreed, walking around the pond towards Anne. ‘Francis loves the winter- says it keeps him alert- but I can't say that I'm not looking forward to spring. Everything looks so dead right now.’

Anne looped her arm through Anna’s and they slowly started to walk back towards Francis’s Manor House. She glanced around at all the bare twigs and the remnants of rotting leaves in the soil. There was holly dotted around and deep in the forest but, for the most part, Anna was right. ‘Even if we get a bit of snow?’

Anna shuddered. ‘I hate snow,’ she groaned. ‘It makes everything so difficult.’

‘You're not wrong,’ replied Anne. ‘But Edward loves it. Playing with the other boys, throwing snow at each other, rolling around in it.’ She chortled to herself. ‘Every year he catches a chill yet still he carries in. Bless him, at least he’s enjoying himself. That's what a child needs above any education in the world. I just want him to be happy.

Anna nodded. ‘He will be,’ she promised, ‘with parents like you and Richard.’ Edward was accompanying his parents whilst they stayed with Anna and Francis. The boy had only recently turned six but he had all the energy of an excited puppy. It had taken a while to appease him that morning once he found out that his parents were going outside without him! ‘You're lucky to have such a wonderful child.’

Anne smiled in thanks. 'I know, and I should probably make sure that he's all right. He was in a frightful mood this morning. Come with me?'

Anna led her friend back to the manor.  _ Heaven knows, it could take hours to find Edward _ , she thought. Anne often feared for his nurses and wondered how he had not managed to wear them down. However, everyone who met him seemed to fall under his spell. He was a beautiful child and nobody could deny it.

*

Francis roared with laughter when the wind smacked his red-raw cheeks as he raced through the forest. His horse was trailing his friend’s by only inches and he rattled the reins again, prompting the beast to go a little faster. The black mare complied and the space between the two horses was slowly reduced. Soon, they would be out in the meadow.

They passed the last branches and Richard cheered, bringing his horse to a gradual stop Francis huffed and pulled up next to Richard.

‘I almost had you, Dickon, I swear I did,’ Francis said.

‘“Almost,”’ repeated Richard with a smirk ‘Not just yet.’

‘Someday.’

Richard cocked his head to the side and grinned. ‘I eagerly await your triumph,’ he teased.

Francis rolled his eyes and kicked his horse into a light trot. ‘It  _ will  _ come.’

Richard followed. ‘I don’t doubt it.’

When Francis looked over at his friend, the smug grin was still on his face. ‘Just because you’re Lord of the North, doesn’t mean I can’t still beat you,’ he grumbled.

Richard chuckled once. ‘And just because you are half a second slower, doesn’t mean that you need to shoot daggers at me.’

Francis gave a half-smile ‘All right. At least we caught a decent-sized boar.’ He was speaking of the short trip’s sole victory, which had been sent back to the manor in advance with an attendant, so that it could be prepared for dinner that evening. ‘We should probably get back, in any case. I promised Anna that I would be back before nightfall and it’s already dusk.’ He looked up and saw the faintest little flecks of white begin to fall from the sky. He laughed under his breath at the thought of his wife’s reaction to the snow.

‘How is Anna lately?’

The smile became more genuine. ‘Happy,’ Francis replied. ‘She deserves to be. She’s everything to me, Richard. Surely you understand?’

Richard nodded. ‘It is the same for me. Anne is all I could have hoped for. Praise God, Francis, that we have both been lucky with our wives. Many are not as fortunate as we are.’

‘And you have been blessed with a child.’

Richard could not help but beam. His heart swelled with pride every time he thought of his beloved Edward. ‘Is Anna…’ he began, but trailed off when he saw the downcast look on Francis’s face.

He cleared his throat. ‘Alas,’ he lamented, ‘we believe that we shall be childless. A shame but Anna is certain that all we need is each other. And our dear friends, of course. And I love Anna enough to trust her on that.’

The two friends talked continuously until they returned to Francis’s manor It had been too long since they had last spoken properly. There were always letters but what was a letter compared to hearing the voice of someone that you loved? If Francis had had his way, he and Richard would still live together so that they could grow up and be men together. Yet adulthood and responsibilities kept them apart for months at a time. Still, it made moments like these all the more special.

‘Do you remember the first Christmas that we spent together?’ asked Richard.

‘Of course,’ Francis responded. ‘We went on a morning walk and you fell head-first into the snow.’

‘And you found it absolutely  _ hilarious _ .’

Francis laughed fondly at the memory. ‘We all had to hurry back home so that you didn’t freeze to death. They wrapped you up in a hundred sheets and sat you right opposite the fire.’

‘And I still caught a damn chill,’ Richard cursed with a sniff for emphasis.

Clouds were passing over the dull moon when Richard and Francis returned. The temperature had suddenly dropped so they quickly passed their horses to the stable boys and sought out their wives before supper. Anne and Anna were sitting in the visiting room, talking.

‘What are you two gossiping about?’ asked Richard as he sauntered into the visiting room.

Anna and Anne stood up at once.

‘We were only wondering where you had both gotten to, My Lords,’ replied Anne, with a mocking curtsy.

‘Hmm.’ Richard hardly sounded convinced. ‘I’m sure. Are you not conspiring something, Anne?’

‘Me, My Lord?!’ She gasped and held her hand over her heart. ‘Christmas is a time for goodwill and merriment, not scheming and deceit! Or is there something that  _ you,  _ perhaps, are not telling me, husband?’

Richard shook his head with a sigh. ‘Nothing at all, my dear. Shall we visit our son before we sup? I know he must miss his dear mother.’ He held out his hand gallantly for her.

She accepted and squeezed his fingers. ‘Of course.’ She turned to Anna and winked. ‘We shan’t be long.’

After Richard and Anne had left the room, Anna and Francis allowed their giggles to escape. Richard and Anna were always playful around company, and nobody ever tired of it. Anna often wondered what they were like when they were alone. No doubt Anne had a Christmas surprise for Richard, whatever it might be.

Francis wiped a single tear from his eye. ‘I feel there’s a petty skirmish looming there.’

Anna walked over to the other side of the room and picked up the wine jug, surrounded by cups, that was sitting on the small table. She gestured towards Francis and, when he nodded, took a cup and poured him a full glass. ‘You know that they adore each other.’

‘Of course they do,’ Francis scoffed, walking towards his wife. ‘But I don’t understand why it’s so… competitive.

Anna handed him the cup. ‘Both of them?’

‘Yes.’ He took a long gulp from his drink. ‘But especially Richard. He always has to be the best.’

Anna rubbed her husband’s shoulder tenderly and kissed his ear. ‘Oh, don’t say that, Francis. You’ve been friends for too long for you to be so bitter.’

Francis took another sip, this one much slower. He gingerly set the empty cup down. ‘I love Richard and I always will. I just wish, sometimes…’

Anna continued to rub soft circles into his back.

‘Sometimes I wish that I was,’ he paused and looked into his wife’s wide eyes. ‘I was,’ he swallowed, ‘more than I am.’ He reached to pour himself another glass but Anna stopped him by clasping his hand.

‘Francis,’ she whispered. She placed one hand against his cheeks and, letting go of her husband’s wrist, she wrapped her other arm around his waist. ‘Francis, look at me.’

He did, forcing a smile for the woman that he loved more than anything else in the world.

‘You are perfect. I think you’re perfect. Richard does as well- Anne too,’ she vowed. ‘We all love you, yes? I love you, Richard loves you. Don’t be upset over Christmas, Francis. Everyone wants you to be happy, especially me and Richard. Can you be happy? For me? Please?’

Francis kissed his wife’s forehead. He shut his eyes tight and held Anna in a warm embrace. ‘What would I do without you?’ he said, his voice a rasp. Then he kissed each of her cheeks and, finally, her lips. He tipped his forehead against hers. His breathing was ragged. ‘Yes, I promise.’

Richard and Anne to their friends returned for dinner, and Francis easily slotted back into his vivacious self. This time, they were all accompanied by Edward. He was no longer in the grumpy state that Anne had accused him of being in that morning. He smiled, cheered and laughed at almost everything that “Uncle Francis” said. For Francis, it was like being the Earl of Warwick’s ward again: he and Richard, eating and talking together, not caring about the past or the future, only caring about what they had right there. After Edward went to bed, the remaining four migrated into the main hall whilst the servants cleared away. They danced and drank and laughed and joked long into the night. Anna was right, all of this was perfect. With his wife swirling around him and his best friend spinning to the side, Francis could not imagine a better way to spend Christmas.


End file.
